Developments are under way on three of the four corners at Bathurst Street and Fort York Boulevard. At the northeast corner on City-owned Blocks 32 and 36 (Railway Lands West neighbourhood), Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) has joined with Context Development to build 891 suites for the condo, rental, and social housing markets plus some commercial units. On Block 32 TCHC is planning a 41-storey tower joined to a lower podium on three sides. On Block 36 next door, Context’s Library District has a 29-storey tower in the southeast corner flanked by two lower structures set at 90-degrees to one another. The building stretching along Fort York Boulevard will house at the Bathurst corner the 100th branch in Toronto’s public library system, which will appear as a free-standing building. Many units in Block 36 will overlook a new park extending under the Bathurst bridge and linking Fort York to the so-called Northern Linear Park, a grassy strip running along the edge of the rail corridor between Bathurst and Spadina.
At the southeast corner of Bathurst and Fort York Boulevard in Blocks 33 and 37 (Railway Lands West), Concord Adex will be bringing its experience gained from developing several condo towers near Spadina to create an as yet unnamed complex of residential and commercial buildings. In early June, as a first step to refining its plans, the developer held a design workshop involving architects, city planners, fort staff, representatives from Councillor Vaughan’s office, and the Friends of Fort York.
At the southwest corner of Bathurst and Fort York Boulevard, overlooking the fort, Vancouver’s Onni Group is marketing the first phase of its Garrison at the Yards development on the north half of Block 6 (Fort York neighbourhood). It will consist of 207 condominium units in an 11-storey tower. Eventually three more towers of a greater height will be built on Onni’s lands south of the Gardiner Expressway.
Not to be forgotten in this roundup is The Fort York Visitor Centre reported elsewhere on pages 5 and 6 of this issue
Who Goes There? Is That a Joke?
One of our Friends, Chris Raible of Creemore, has sent the following item from an issue of The Colonial Advocate [York, U.C.], 22 March 1827:
“Young Mr. Maitland, son to his excellency [Lt. Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland], disguised himself one night last week in ragged and uncouth apparel, for the purpose it is said of ascertaining whether the guard at the south side of the garrison was on duty. He climbed up the bank, the sentinel was on duty, and hearing some one approaching ran for his musket, presented his bayonet to the stranger, who cried for mercy, and told his name. The sentinel however did not permit him to enter the garrison by the ascent. He had to go round to the gate and give the regular countersign previous to his admission.”
‘Young Mr. Maitland’ was Capt. Peregrine Maitland, the lieutenant governor’s oldest son whose mother died when he was an infant. In 1815 Lady Sarah Lennox became his stepmother when his father remarried. Taking leave on halfpay in 1826-27 from the 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot, Capt. Maitland joined his father’s staff at Government House, York. Notwithstanding what the newspaper said, his probing of Fort York’s security may have been inspired as much by boredom as by an interest in gathering military intelligence.
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